Cover for sap-buckets



l(No Model.)A

H. WALGOTT.

COVER FORSAP BUGKETS.

No. 880,858. Patented Apr. 1o, 1888.

6 INVENTOR;

WITNESSESI N. PETERS. Phamumogmphen wanhingmn. llc.

Un'irnn raras Partnr trims.

HENRY WALGOTT, OE ROCHESTER, VERMONT.

COVER FOR SAPWBUGKETS.

SPIEICIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,958, dated April lO, 1888.

Application led December 28, 1887. Serial No. 259,214.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY WALcoT'r, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Rochester, in the county of Windsor and State of Vermont, have invented a certain new and Improved Cover for Sap-Buckets, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to a removable cover for a sap bucket or pail,adapted to be employed while the bucket is in use and receiving sap from the tree; and the object of my invention is partly7 to provide a cover that will be selfret-aining and will keep out twigs, leaves, rain, &c.,and partly to provide means in connection with sai d cover for keeping back the ice (which sometimes forms in the bucket) i when emptying the sap from the buckets.

My invention will be hereinafter fully described, and its novel features carefully defined in the claims.

In the drawings which serve to illustrate my invention, Figure lis a side elevation of an ordinary sheet-metal sap-bucket provided with my improved cover. `This view also shows in dotted lines the sap-spout and hook for suppoiting the bucket when it is in use. Fig. 2 is an end or front View of the same,taken at right angles-to Fig. l, and showing the device for retaining the ice in the bucket at the rear. Eig. 3 is a section on line 3 8 in Fig. 2, showing the interior of the cover. Eig. 4 is a section online 4 4 in Fig. l at right angles to Fig. 3, illustrating the manner in which the cover is secured to the bucket. Fig. isatop View or plan of the cover.

These views are all drawn to the same scale.

X represents an ordinary sap-bucket, which may be of sheet metal and of the size and form usually employed in the manufacture of maple-sugar. Such a bucket has a projecting wired bead or fiange, as x, around its upper edge.

A represents my improved coveras a whole.

In constructing my cover I take a sheet of metal7 preferably tin-plate,'cut it to the proper shape, and then form an elevated central portion or roof-section, c, therein, the ends of which extend out to or a little beyond the rim of the bucket to form hoods a a. The lateral level, and `these are joined to the roofsection a (No model.)

by sides c c, usually inclined or sloped, as shown.

Around the margins of the portions b are formed drop-flanges cl d, which are wired at their edgesin such a manner as to form inturned iianges, which, when the cover is in place on the bucket, spring in and take under the wired bead x on the margin thereof, and thus serve by the elasticity or spring-like character of the parts to retain the cover rmly in place. The cover may, however, be removed by alittlc effort. I also strengthen and stiften the cover and add to its spring-like retaining qualities by wiring the edgesof the projecting hoods a c and the ends of the sides c c, and these wires may be continuous all around the margin of the cover. I have shown the cover constructed of a single sheet of metal; but this is not essential.

The elevation of the cover at its middle is intended in the main to allow room for the sapspout y. (Indicated in dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 8.) The bucket may be suspended from the spout by a hook, z, also indicated in dotted lines. rIhis hook engages a hole, zr', in the side of the' bucket just below the wired bead x.

Sometimes ice forms in the sap in the buckets, and it is desirable under most circumstances that this should not be allowed to get into the conveying spouts, funnels, or pipes, into which the buckets are emptied. To prevent this, I provide my cover with an iceguard, e, in the nature of a grid, which I usually make of wire and hinge by a clip,f, to the under side of one of the hoods a. The hinging of the guard permits it to be turned up out of the way, as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 3, when it is not required to be used. In placing the cover on the bucket the hood to which the guard is hinged should be turned so as to stand away from the tree.

While my cover is designed to be employed most particularly on sheet-metal buckets which have a wired, flanged, or beaded rim for the cover to engage, a wooden or other receptacle may of course be used in connection with the cover, provided said receptacle has a retaining bead or device of a similar character to that shown,or capable of engaging the cover-liangc.

The degree of elevation and the width of the central section of the cover may be varied to IOO stiffen the cover; but I do not Wish to limit myself to this particular feature of the construetion.

My cover is light, stiff, and spring-like asrespects its retaining qualities when in place, and they may be packed closely for shipment, as the projecting parts of one will t or nest7 quite snugly into the holloWs of the other.

Having thus described my invention7 I claim 1. A cover fora sap-bucket, made from sheet metal and wired atits edges,said cover consisting of the elevated roof-section a, the upright sides c c, and the lateral portions b b, provided with inturned retaining-anges dd,wherebythe cover is retained in place by its oWn elasticity,A

as set forth.

2. A cover, A, fora sap-bucket, having an elevated central roof-section, a, forming hoods ctct, and provided with an ice-guard attached to the under side of one of said hoods, substantially as set forth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

HENRY WALCOTT. 

